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Hispanic
Yes, but with New Tastes
BALDWIN PARK, CA
(By Hector Becerra, LATimes) May 28,
2008 It was as if the developers
were talking about tacos, and
Hispanic politicians were talking
about apple pie.
Baldwin Park Mayor Manuel Lozano and
other city officials listened as the
developers said they had studied the
demographics of the city and could
bring in a retailer known for
offering credit to undocumented
immigrants and a shopping center
with a "Hispanic feel."
To Lozano, it was another case of
developers typecasting his suburb,
which is about 15 miles east of
downtown Los Angeles. He didn't want
to see more of what he calls "amigo
stores."
The meeting ended like a bad date,
with handshakes and excessive
courtesy. But afterward, Lozano made
it clear he was not happy.
"We want what Middle America has as
well," said the second-generation
Mexican American, recounting the
meeting. "We like to go to nice
places like Claim Jumpers, Chili's
and Applebee's. . . . We don't want
the fly-by-night business, the
'amigo store,' which they use to
attract Hispanics like myself."
Call it "immigrant" store fatigue.
It's happening in cities that are
overwhelmingly Hispanic, with
Hispanic
political leaders and with large
immigrant communities.
For decades, these cities attracted
working-class and immigrant-centric
retailers: check-cashing businesses,
Hispanic supermarkets, discount gift
stores, bridal shops and Mexican
western wear stores. Some are
independent, and some are chains
such as La Curacao, an appliance and
electronics retailer that offers
credit accounts to immigrants who
lack the documentation for
conventional credit cards.
Until relatively recently, cities
like Baldwin Park, South Gate and
Santa Ana had few options beyond
"Hispanic" retailers. But this year,
Baldwin Park a city of 70,000 in
the San Gabriel Valley enacted a
moratorium on new payday loan and
check cashing stores. The city is
now partners with Bisno Development
Co. on an "urban village" of
mixed-income housing, theaters and
mainstream restaurants such as Claim
Jumper, Applebee's and Chili's.
To make it happen, the city is
considering a plan that could
require the use of eminent domain
power to clear a 125-acre area.
That would result in the loss of
more than 80 homes and more than 100
small businesses.
The huge project has prompted
charges that the City Council,
composed of Mexican Americans, is
ashamed of its culture.
"I'm proud of my roots," said
Rosalva Alvarez, as she stood in her
beauty store on Maine Avenue, which
is in the redevelopment area. "I was
born in Mexico and raised in this
country. I agree we need some
change. But what they want to bring
here is totally unrealistic.
Applebee is good, but a Kabuki? And
also a Trader Joe's? Come on, I
don't even go to Trader Joe's."
Some opponents say that one
councilwoman had told critics to "go
back to Tijuana."
"I don't know where they got that,"
said Councilwoman Marlen Garcia.
"What I said was 'We're striving to
insure Baldwin Park doesn't look
like Tijuana.' "
As he wiped down the counter of his
Via-Mar Family Restaurant, Mexican
immigrant Audon Diaz, 36, wonders if
one day he might be pushed out too.
It took him eight years just to get
established, often having to repair
the busted street lamps in the
parking lot himself.
"It's like they want Baldwin Park in
the style of Capistrano or like
Hacienda Heights," Diaz said. "The
restaurant industry is pretty hard
to make it in. Eight years, and I'm
barely hanging on. It's like the
city wants to make it hard for you."
But Mayor Lozano is undaunted.
As he rode through the streets of
his city, past the rows of low-slung
mini malls with signs in a mix of
English and Spanish, Lozano
complained that downtown Baldwin
Park had too many discount gift
stores, too many beauty salons, too
many Mexican restaurants and way too
many pawnshops.
Lozano and his allies believe that
mainstream retailers now fit better
with Baldwin Park, where many of the
residents are second-, third- and
even fourth-generation Hispanics with
little interest in stores aimed at
immigrants.
Now that the city has choices, he
said, it should send a clear message
to "amigo store" promoters, like
those who introduce themselves with
business cards decorated with the
image of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
"They're pitching their 'Hispanic'
type agenda," Lozano said.
Anthony Bejarano, a Baldwin Park
councilman and graduate of
Georgetown University law school, is
a fourth-generation Mexican American
who says he speaks "very little
Spanish."
He said that the proliferation of
what the mayor calls "amigo stores"
forces him to go to other cities to
shop.
"I love to go to traditional Mexican
restaurants. I shop at Vallarta
Supermarket, but I can't get
everything I need," he said. "At the
end of the day, it's all Mexican
restaurants here. When we want
Italian, when we want sushi, where
do we go? If I want a pair of
Kenneth Coles, I have to go to
Arcadia."
Cities like Baldwin Park and Santa
Ana used to struggle to get national
retailers. Some residents tried
letter-writing campaigns to lure
Starbucks and others.
The response by many retailers was
often "This is not our customer,"
said Luis Valenzuela, executive vice
president for NAI Capital, a
commercial real estate brokerage
firm. "The difference now is that
corporate America has realized
there's tremendous buying power in
these communities."
Valenzuela, who worked on Lynwood's
popular Plaza Mexico, cites the El
Paseo Shopping Center in South Gate
as a turning point.
The sprawling center opened about a
decade ago near the 710 Freeway.
The Edwards theater there was the
first to be opened in a city that
was not only majority Hispanic but
also largely Spanish-speaking, he
said.
And after the Starbucks opened in
South Gate, it became one of the
chain's leading seller of
Frappuccinos, Valenzuela said.
"You had some mainstream stores who
really took a risk, for the first
time really going into a
predominantly Spanish-speaking
area," Valenzuela said.
"After that, you really saw Ross,
Marshall, Applebee's, Chili's and a
lot of those businesses in Hispanic
areas," he said.
Although the South Gate shopping
center, which does include a La
Curacao and other ethnic businesses,
is considered a success story by
many, change has at times been rocky
in Santa Ana.
There, the all-Hispanic City Council
has sought to transform downtown.
They contend that there is an
over-concentration of
immigrant-focused Mexican western
wear, discount gift, notary public
and especially bridal stores along
historic 4th Street.
As he stood amid Stetson hats and
colorful leather boots made of
ostrich and stingray at his Mexican
western wear store, Ray Rangel, 78,
said it seemed as if City Hall was
trying to winnow away 4th Street's
immigrant customer base with
downtown plans that included
higher-end housing.
"I'll tell you one thing about the
City Council," he said. "Before,
when the council was more mixed, we
could get along with them. Now that
they're all Hispanics, we have more
trouble getting things. They want
the upscale, something more Anglo."
Santa Ana Councilwoman Michele
Martinez said a lack of cultural
pride was not the issue; it's just
not all Hispanics are immigrants.
"I have nothing against 50
quinceaρera shops, but I don't shop
there. Many of my friends don't shop
there," said Martinez, a
fourth-generation Mexican American.
"Parents and grandparents may shop
there, but young kids are not going
to shop there, unless they're
immigrants."
The debate has resulted in some
testy exchanges.
Sam Romero, 73, owner of St.
Teresa's Catholic Gift Shop on 4th
Street, said he once cracked to a
local paper that one local
politician "broke every glass and
mirror in the house so he wouldn't
have to see a Mexican."
On a recent day, Carol Castillo, 31,
an immigrant from Mexico, stood in
her family-owned Marlen's Bridal
Shop.
She said she was aware that the
bridal shops, which also sell
dresses for quinceaρera
coming-of-age celebrations, were
used as an example by City Hall.
Three other bridal shops are
directly across the street, and
there's one next door.
"It's a fact, they want us out of
here," Castillo said. "There's a lot
of chatter going on. The people
pushing this, most of them are
Hispanics, unfortunately."
Martinez said the city was not
looking to push anyone out. She said
a compromise could be reached to
keep 4th Street a "Hispanic district"
while developing around it.
Like Santa Ana, Baldwin Park is
divided between immigrants and the
U.S.-born.
Councilwoman Marlen Garcia, said she
was tired of pining for the Islands,
Chevy's and Jamba Juices of
neighboring West Covina.
She still remembers the doomed pitch
by the developers who wanted to
bring in immigrant-focused stores.
"As soon as they said 'La Curacao,'
I said, 'That's it,' " Garcia said.
"We're not against our culture,
nothing like that. But we want
something that speaks to every
culture."
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